Kuwait History

KUWAIT HISTORY

1. Geography

A. Cradle of Civilization

1. Connected to Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

2. Beginning of recorded civilization

3. Mesopotamia and Egyptians built civilizations in the New Stone Age

4. Sumarians, Akkadians, Babylonian Empire, Assyrian Empire, Chaldean Empire

5. Persian Empire (Endo-Europeans) 500 BC

B. Modern Iraq

1. 75% of population are Muslim Arabs

2. 20% are Kurds—Endo-European peoples

3. 90% of Muslims are Sunni and 10% are Shiite

2. Ottoman Empire

A. Turks under Suleiman the Magnificent, conquered the Near East; 1520-1566 AD.

1. All adhered to the Sultan; no private property

2. Fought with the Persians for control of Mesopotamia

3. Supported the Suni over the Shiite faction aligned with Persia

B. Three Ottoman Provinces

1. Mawsil, Baghdad, Basra

2. Kuwait was a district of the Basra province

3. Sabah family from northeastern Arabia moved to the coastal area in the 18th century

a. Kuwait Bay; a merchant class emerged

b. Shaykh Sabah formed a government around his family

c. Made alliances with outside forces to maintain his independence

d. The Ottoman Empire only nominally controlled Kuwait

4. Sultan claimed to be the Islam Caliph; recognized as such in 1876 by Europe

C. Kuwait became a district within the province of Basra

1. Sultan made Jabir Sabah the sub-governor of Kuwait

2. Shaykh Mubarak became the leader of Kuwait in 1891

a. He sought protection from his family by appealing to England

b. Germans and Russians wanted to built a railroad terminus in Kuwait

1899 c. Exchange of letters between England and Kuwait; form of “protection”

c. British protected Kuwait from the Turks in 1901

3. Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913

a. Struggle among British, Turks, and Germans for concessions in the area

b. Kuwait constitutes an autonomous kaza (district) of the Ottoman Empire

c. Shaykh enjoys complete administrative autonomy in Kuwait territory

d. A suzerainty or a dependent...